The invention relates to an apparatus and method for providing a live memory snapshot.
There are times when it would be desirable to take a snapshot of the memory image of a running system. A simple dump of memory requires the suspension of all user and normal kernel activity for the entire time it takes to copy the system memory image to backing storage. If the memory is large, which is typically the case in a modern computer system, this can take some time. However, in many computer systems, it is not acceptable to suspend all user and normal kernel activity for any length of time. This is typically the situation in server computers, where the computer should ideally be active at all times, with minimal down-time.
The present invention seeks to provide a mechanism, system and method that can provide a live snapshot of a memory image of a live running computing system.